About HoWL

At HoWL, we encourage exploration, creativity, independence, joking, laughing, and getting muddy! Through challenge-by-choice fun and games, students learn more about themselves, their teammates, the environment, and the inter-connectivity of it all, than any textbook could ever teach. It is this awareness, and the skills learned on every expedition, that provide a solid foundation for the kind of future leaders that our world needs. It is also because we emphasize “fun first” that our students want to HoWL again and again.

At HoWL, we are dedicated to making our adventures available to everyone, regardless of income or other barriers to participation. Studies have consistently shown that participation in outdoor experiential education contributes to healthier decision-making, considerate and compassionate attitudes, and environmentally-conscious leadership. We price our expeditions below-cost and fund them through grants and fundraisers, and we have a robust scholarship program to ensure that every kid who wants to HoWL, can HoWL.

HoWL exists because of the wild lands of Alaska. Conservation of our wilderness is integral to the organization, to our enjoyment, as well as to all life on our planet. We believe that conservation begins with appreciation, and that survival skills and wilderness leadership inspire confidence and build character, laying the foundation for our environmentally-conscious leaders of tomorrow. At HoWL, we care for the wild spaces we visit, our expedition teammates, ourselves and the wider community of humanity and planet earth.

HoWL is not a guiding service. Even though we take people into remote places that they would not necessarily be able to access on their own, our group leaders are instructors and educators. HoWL follows an experiential education philosophy where students take initiative, ask questions, demonstrate creativity, and make decisions. HoWL instructors foster a learning environment within which students are able to learn and make meaning from these experiences. They teach HoWL students to be respectful, confident, and caring outdoors people.

A backcountry setting is full of inherent risks. That is what makes it such a dynamic learning environment and great place for students to challenge themselves and grow. HoWL instructors are aware of the objective and subjective hazards of each area they travel through, as well as each individual student group. Instructors communicate these elements of risk to the students and provide a container for students to learn consequential decision making skills. Students are empowered to lead, work together as a group, and make important decisions for themselves.